It is estimated that the world-wide, synthetic turf, multi-purpose field market is around 60,000,000 square feet per year, which equates to around $500,000,000 per year spent on synthetic turf. The popularity of the synthetic turf industry is bolstered by the many benefits offered by synthetic turf, including eliminating the necessity of mowing the grass and worrying about growing grass in difficult areas. However, there are also several drawbacks of current synthetic turf systems.
For example, in the current method of installing synthetic turf, rubber is used as an infill. Rubber serves the important purpose of acting as a shock absorption layer, or attenuation layer. However, there are some concerns that ground-up rubber may cause cancer. Additionally, synthetic turf is around 35 degrees higher in temperature than natural grass fields. As a result of the higher temperature of the grass, heat exhaustion occurs more quickly for those on the synthetic turf.
Another large drawback is the significant cost associated with the purchase and installation of a synthetic turf field. On average, a synthetic turf field costs around $600,000, with most of that cost attributed to the work done below the surface (e.g., drainage and rock stabilization. Moreover, a single type of synthetic turf field is not appropriate in all situations. But due to the high cost, most fields are installed using an infill ratio of rubber to sand which favors the most prevalently played sport in that market. For example, in the Southern U.S. this is American football. However, fields may be primarily designed for soccer, lacrosse, baseball, or any other type of sport where artificial turf fields are desirable.
Accordingly, it may be beneficial to have a synthetic turf system that can be used with multiple sports and without the drawbacks of current synthetic turf systems.